Chop shop gang to be sentenced after Land Rover and vehicle thefts

A gang of 11 men who were involved in the theft of Land Rovers, Ford Transit vans and vehicle parts worth tens of thousands of pounds have been brought to justice.

Derby Crown Court heard today, Thursday, February 16, how ten of the men pleaded guilty to a variety of offences relating to their involvement in an operation which was based at a unit on Deepdale Close, at Staveley, and one was convicted after a trial.

Prosecuting barrister Jonathan Dunne said: “This case involved a unit at Staveley operated by Bradley Ellis and Gavin Critchley. A unit which was a grave yard for stolen Transit vans and Land Rovers.

“This involved an enormous amount of police work from humble beginnings with the opportunist theft of a car from a driveway on March 24, 2014.”

Police revealed they originally spotted the stolen Fiesta on cameras and after it had been given new number plates it was tracked to Unstone service station where it was involved in the theft of a Land Rover.

The stolen Fiesta, according to Mr Dunne, was also linked to the theft of Land Rover headlights from Chesterfield and the theft of a spare wheel taken from a van.

Mr Dunne added police subsequently recovered a number of stolen Land Rovers and linked these to the unit at Staveley which they believed was operating as a chop shop.

Police launched an investigation with surveillance cameras and described activities at the unit as “pure criminality”.

The gang had been involved in a series of thefts of Land Rovers, Transit vans and vehicle parts from March, 2014, but was brought to justice after a search warrant was executed at the Staveley unit in September, 2014.

Offences had included many thefts of Land Rovers, Ford Transit vans, Land Rover headlights and parts, according to Mr Dunne, from locations across the region including Staveley, Chesterfield, Dronfield Woodhouse, Sheffield, Lincoln, Worksop, Newark, and Rotherham.

Following the thefts of vehicles many of their stolen parts were later found in other vehicles or at the unit in Staveley.